Eros Now Bidding As A Forerunner in The Epic Battle for Eyeballs in India

While international players Netflix and Amazon Prime Videos are going more local with regional content deals, The on-demand platform of Mumbai-based Eros International deals with more local content than the two American players together host currently.

In a country with more than a billion people sipping refreshment while enjoying the economic rejuvenation, India is now known as one huge market, claiming thousands of top-dog industries. Taking no-ifs-and-buts, the largest paradigm shift has been in the entertainment business, wherein India has been slowly subsuming streaming services. With the growing infrastructure for internet connectivity, Online Streaming Services is shipshape.

Eros Now whistles about its success saga with a library of over 11,000 film titles in India, which marks noteworthy share of OTT (over-the-top) movie content. Exclusive reports forecast that Eros Now will be spending at least $50 million on producing original contents that will range from films to episodes to documentary backdrops.

For movie-streaming leviathan Netflix, India’s huge untapped market has enabled it to garner over hundreds of millions of movie-hungry viewers. To attain that, the company plans on investing about $6 billion, that too just on content.

Again, the direct rival to all other streaming services is Amazon Prime Video. It has claimed dominance in the country and has also catered to the taste of the multilingual Indian users, with assortments available not just in Hindi, but Tamil, Bengali, and more

However, there remains one obstacle in the Indian digital space, which hinders the path of both Netflix and Amazon Prime: Eros.

Despite being minor globally, it has positioned itself to become the number one distributor and producer of local content in India.

It’s Eros Now vs Amazon Prime And Netflix

Eros Now is just the service for Hindi-exclusive entertainment. Home to a massive collection of Hindi movies ranging from the retro 1980’s to the latest blockbusters, the entry of Eros now into the online entertainment space is here to keep up with the growing demand of Indian Film Industry revolution.

At the subscription rate of just ₹49 a month, the service is fairly affordable. Again, the feasible amount justifies the limitation.

Whole “Over The Top” Mayhem

With competition in the space intensifying, without boundaries, all over-the-top(OTT) companies in the vertical are indulging into long-term partnerships to produce higher-grossing and original contents.

Eros Now, which is originally studio Eros International’s OTT wing has introduced its original series. Previously, it confirmed major tie-up with Indo-Sino productions. Reportedly, Eros International has made more than 50 films in more than eight languages. With 40 directors on board, this has been a key to build a massive library for Eros content.

On The Front Run

As per contemporary outlook, Eros releases over 70 movies a year, which can be accountable to the highest number of movies released by any studio in the US. Apparently, about 40 percent of India’s box office revenues is due to Eros movies.

Eros has suddenly emerged as a front-runner in the battle of digital space dominance and this can be attributed to the minority investor of the firm, London-based Knight Assets. Knight’s stake of more than 2 per cent in the company, has led towards a shift in Eros’s prior motive of launching a TV channel. With Knight implementing a dry run in the digital dominance strategy, Eros company now seems like changing its mind.

Additionally, given the company’s close ties with Bollywood, Eros is known for generating hits. According to Forbes reports, in the first nine months of FY 2014 four out of the top 10 Hindi films were made by Eros. This hit-making propensity undoubtedly has been a keep-sake souvenir to boast of a loyal base.

As of now, Eros is concentrating on catering to the needs and wishlist of everyone. With 7% library in English; 66% in Hindi and ranging the regional streams between 30% and 35%, Eros now believes in experimenting. With so much of competition in the space, it’s up for combat rehearsals, more than ever.